The return of the Skyvan PA-51 is a memory of what happened on December 14, 1977, when three of the four founders of Mares de la Plaza de Mayo – Azucena Villa flor, Esther Ballestrino de Careaga and María Eugenia Ponce de Bianco – were thrown alive into the sea from this military plane.
Together with them, the French nuns Alice Domon and Léonie Duquet, and seven other people, known as The Twelve of Santa Cruz, were killed. Almost 46 years later, the aircraft has flown for the last time in Argentina to restore the memory of the victims of the death flights during the dictatorship of the PRN (National Reorganization Party) from 1976 to 1983.
Mabel Careaga, daughter of Esther Ballestrino de Careaga, one of the victims of the flight, tells La Vanguardia that the process of repatriating the plane from where her mother was launched has been difficult. “I think two things: on a personal level, it was very hard, it is inevitable to see the plane and remember what happened. My mother was there alive, and the other victims. But, at the collective level, it is very important to reconstruct the history of the disappeared from the moment they were abducted. Finding the plane was an important part”, he says.
Like the other relatives of the twelve victims, the daughters of the founders of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo think that the repatriated plane should be displayed in the detention center used by the PRN to preserve the memory of what happened to the dictatorship The Espacio Memoria y Derechos Humanos center, the museum in charge of exhibiting the plane, is located in the former Escola Superior de Mecànica de l’Armada (ESMA), the place where the most important clandestine detention center operated during the dictatorship military The ESMA caused hundreds of victims, it was a space recognized for the torture and death of thousands of Argentines.
According to the Espacio Memoria y Derechos Humanos, there is a discussion about how to present the aircraft to the public. For now, the museum dedicated to the victims of the dictatorship has no plans for how it will display the Skyvan PA-51. According to this institution, exhibiting the plane could be very emotional for the relatives of those affected, due to the fact that they remember the last place where the dead were alive.
Careaga explains that the process of finding the plane and convicting those responsible lasted more than ten years, and began thanks to the victims’ relatives, who waited until 2020 to return the aircraft to Argentina. A file was drawn up with the support of the State to be able to rescue the Skyvan PA-51, which was in the United States. As for the survivors’ research, five planes were originally used for the death flights, two were decommissioned and the rest were sold. After locating the model of the plane and its path of travel, it was confirmed that it was the aircraft from which Els d’Otze de Santa Cruz, and probably other opponents, were thrown into the sea.
The covid pandemic affected the operation for the repatriation of the Skyvan PA-51. Finally, in November 2022, the Ministry of Economy was able to buy the plane and began managing its last flight to Argentina.
Careaga recalls that the disappearance and murder of his loved ones by the regime is part of his biography and that of thousands of Argentines, and that the search and repatriation of the aircraft has reconstructed the memory of his relatives and what happened to the dictatorship
Those in charge of the project have been able to detail what the victims experienced that December 1977, from their kidnapping to their death, and the fight for this plane to return “has a lot to do with the fight for justice and remembering our disappeared in their life and in their struggle, and not stay in the horror of what happened to them. We rescued the memory of their lives”, explains Careaga.
According to the survivors and human rights organizations, work is starting to “be able to present the plane in the best possible way”, with the aim of making it a reality in 2024.
